14 DAY TRIAL // Battlefield Hardline is launching as we speak in many parts of the world and some users are already complaining of different problems, such as spikes in CPU load. Fortunately, a solution for this particular issue has already been uncovered by fans, as it's apparently due to the Punkbuster anti-cheating system.
Battlefield Hardline went through two different beta stages across PC, PS4, Xbox One, PS3, and Xbox 360 platforms, and developer Visceral Games emphasized that it's learned a lot during these test phases and that the final game shouldn't encounter any big issues.
Unfortunately, as many users saw yesterday, that wasn't the case, as PC fans with Nvidia graphics cards already complained of a common DirectX error, while others experienced CPU spikes that drastically affected the game's performance.
The CPU spike issue is caused by Punkbuster and has a fix
Fortunately, the huge community acted fast and found a solution to this pretty big problem. According to a thread on the official forums, the Punkbuster anti-cheating program employed by Hardline is causing these CPU spikes, as apparently going on multiplayer servers that don't have Punkbuster enabled results in a smooth experience.
The problem seems to be with fans who've already played Battlefield 3 or 4, and had older versions of Punkbuster installed on their machines.
They should just uninstall that version of the program and install the one that comes with the new game. To do so, you need to head to the installation folder of Battlefield Hardline and run the pbsvc.exe program to uninstall and remove Punkbuster's current version.
Afterwards, download the Punkbuster installer from Softpedia and in the setup process add a game, choose Battlefield 4, and then point it towards your Battlefield Hardline installation folder. Complete the setup, and then run pbsvc.exe again from the Battlefield Hardline folder to make sure the version checks out.
Many users report that the method works and that CPU spikes in Battlefield Hardline are a thing of the past.
